{"id":807481,"date":"2026-07-17T08:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807481\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T08:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:42:24","slug":"nascars-toni-breidinger-talks-gender-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807481\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR\u2019s Toni Breidinger Talks Gender Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toni Breidinger got candid about being a woman in the world of NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s honestly really special,\u201d Breidinger exclusively told Us Weekly on the red carpet of the 2026 ESPYS<\/a> in New York City on Wednesday, July 15. \u201cI mean, I feel like when I\u2019m out there, I don\u2019t look at it like, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s guys all over and it\u2019s very male- dominated.\u2019 But it\u2019s really cool to see that we\u2019re finally getting the opportunities that we deserve, and to finally get a seat at the table and be on the race track.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if she ever felt like she was treated differently by being a woman in the sport, Breidinger replied, \u201cYes, and I think it still happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I experience that honestly every race weekend,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s just about having that inner confidence in yourself, and also having that close inner circle and team that you feel like you belong with, and they don\u2019t make you feel any different or any lesser. So I think it\u2019s just really about who you surround yourself with.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she has \u201cnever actually spoken\u201d to pioneer female driver Danica Patrick, Breidinger explained that she still sees the racer as a mentor from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, [Patrick is] definitely a trailblazer in the sport,\u201d Breidinger said. \u201cEspecially when I was younger, I looked up to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Breidinger, who made history<\/a> as the first Arab-American female driver in NASCAR, realized she wanted to be a race card driver when her dad signed her up for go-kart classes at a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know how to start it. I had never driven anything before, so they had to teach me how to use the gas, how to brake, the very basics,\u201d she recently told Glamour<\/a>. \u201cBut I remember it was my first really big adrenaline rush. I was so nervous and excited at the same time, and it was a very intense moment for me. I had so much fun out there on the track that they gave me the nickname \u2018the hot shoe\u2019 because I was so fast. I thought I was such a speed racer. I fell in love with it that first day. My sister did too, and we begged our dad for a go-kart after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cIt was my first taste of speed and also independence. It was my first time doing something where I didn\u2019t have a coach in my ear and my parents weren\u2019t telling me what to do. It was just me and the go-kart, and I was steering it myself and doing everything out there on my own. I thought that was super cool. I felt so independent and invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toni Breidinger got candid about being a woman in the world of NASCAR. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly really special,\u201d Breidinger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,75,856,282,80283,634,82],"class_list":["post-807481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-entertainment-news","tag-exclusive","tag-exclusive-interview","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}